Introduction
Most women's blood sugar levels remain normal during pregnancy. But if blood sugar levels do exceed a certain value, experts refer to gestational diabetes.
It is not always easy to say where having slightly elevated blood sugar levels ends and gestational diabetes begins. It is normal for your metabolism to change over the course of pregnancy. During this time your body generally absorbs sugar from the bloodstream more slowly after a meal. This means that high blood sugar levels are not unusual in many pregnant women – and they usually return to normal levels after pregnancy.
Having gestational diabetes does not mean that you have developed diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus is a long-term chronic disease, whereas gestational diabetes usually goes away after giving birth. But women with gestational diabetes are somewhat more likely to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus later in life. In rare cases, diabetes that was probably already there is discovered during pregnancy.
The raised blood sugar levels in gestational diabetes slightly increase the risk of certain rare birth complications, yet this risk can usually be normalized by changes in diet.
The vast majority of women who develop gestational diabetes experience an otherwise normal pregnancy and go on to give birth to a healthy baby.